PurposeThis study seeks to explore the issue of individual opposition to the organized retailing system in an emerging country. It aims to identify the motivations for rejecting such retail outlets as well as how the resistance that is generated expresses itself and to point out the amazing precocity of the emergence of this resistance in these developing countries.Design/methodology/approachIn‐depth interviews using the critical incident technique were conducted to explore the reasons for consumers' partial or total defection from mass retailing. Respondents were selected through snowball sampling to identify information‐rich cases using personal and professional social networks.FindingsThe study's results highlight non‐organized individual initiatives of avoidance and defection from hypermarkets in the emerging country under study as opposed to the structured protest movements in developed countries. In addition, the findings show a two‐fold orientation of this resistance: on the one hand towards the hypermarket format as a whole, and on the other towards foreign (as opposed to local) retailers, indicating an incongruency between some Western values associated with the foreign retailers, or even linked to globalization, and the values of the Arab‐Muslim local culture.Research limitations/implicationsOnly individual resistance motivations were explored, although their interactions with more collective shared motives for resisting would lead to a fuller understanding of the rejection of hypermarkets. The reason for this choice was mainly because organized movements are still embryonic in emerging countries or at best not sufficiently structured.Originality/valueThis paper extends and enriches knowledge on consumer resistance by showing that even in an immature retail market, consumers are able to reject and oppose the introduction of retail formats that are deemed not to be congruent with local cultural values. It underlines in particular some unusual motives for rejection of imported hypermarkets due to consumers' dislike of, and non‐adherence to, the way modern food stores put forward consumption as a spectacle resulting in voyeuristic behaviour and social marking, and their religiously inspired culture and education that limits consumption and emphasizes the fairness, human and ethical dimensions of commerce.
Looking at the processes for resolving collective problems in a context of democratic transition highlights the need for an organizational overhaul of local governance bodies capable of admitting greater involvement of all stakeholders in decision-making. Through a case study of a Tunisian municipality and a breach of local legislation, we analyse the dynamics of the stakeholders in place, particularly in terms of power, legitimacy and urgency. This case study makes it possible, in particular, to review certain counter-power actions of a coalition of actors mobilized by civil society. Actions that make it possible to contain the power of local and regional officials while waiting for the emergence of control bodies and deliberative bodies capable of redefining a more participatory local governance.
This case study concerns municipalities in Tunisia. It provides an opportunity, in a context of constitutional, institutional and legislative reforms and municipal elections, to examine local governance. In particular, this case deals with the power games and actors through a conflict between a municipality and a coalition of stakeholders since 2016. Starting from an act of violation of local and urban legislation, the case highlights the shortcomings of the authorities in the management of local affairs and the positions taken by the various stakeholders over a period of almost three years. The study of the conflict at the local level makes it possible to follow the stages of the constitution of a coalition of stake-holders as a counter-power, and the evolution of the position of the municipality in its management of its stakeholders. This positioning of the various stakeholders thus influences the implementation of a new participative governance build on openness and transparency.
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